


Mousetrap

by misspamela



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 02:18:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misspamela/pseuds/misspamela





	Mousetrap

"We have a problem." Radek popped his head into the door of the shuttle, where Rodney was working on a wiring problem that had been bugging him for weeks. It certainly wasn't because he was avoiding Radek. Nope. Nothing to avoid there.

_Rodney had been hit, yet again �" and this was really getting old �" by a Wraith stunner. This time was worse than last time, however, so Carson had him stay overnight. He'd been alone in the infirmary, exhausted but too freaked out by his paralysis to sleep, when Radek came in. He didn't say a word; he just stared at Rodney with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed in anger. _

Rodney tried to gurgle a hello, but his vocal cords weren't working as well as he'd hoped.

Radek leaned over him. "You look terrible," he said, firmly. "And you are not so smart as you think you are." He poked Rodney in the chest, hard enough that Rodney could feel slight pressure. "You belong in lab, safe."

Rodney was trying to find the right kind of response to gurgle back when Radek leaned in further and kissed him on the lips.

"We always have a problem." Rodney very intently did _not_ look at him, his mind quickly trying to calculate all the permutations of "a problem" which had grown exponentially since last night.

"No, this is a big problem." Radek paused. "Sorry, small problem."

"Excuse me?" Rodney sat up, banging his head on the console. "Ow." He noticed the crossed-arms and the slightly disapproving look that Radek was giving him. "Okay, which one is it? Because I don't have time for small problems." And he really didn't have time to be standing here, pissed off that he still didn't know how Radek kissed. Being stunned wasn't exactly conducive to any sort of …well, anything. Then again, maybe Radek wouldn't have done it if Rodney wasn't stunned. Huh. Maybe that's why he wasn't kissing Rodney again.

"Dr. Beckett's mice have escaped."

"How is this _my_ problem?" Rodney stood up. "It's not even _your_ problem."

"Is our problem when little mice with Ancient genes are running around our big city, turning things on, turning them off�""

"Okay, okay, I get it." Rodney frowned. "Yeah, this is a big problem."

Major Sheppard knocked on the outside of the 'jumper. "Hey, Rodney. Did Zelenka fill you in on our little problem?"

"Big problem," Rodney and Radek corrected in unison.

Sheppard shrugged. "Okay, big problem." He cocked his head at McKay. "What are we going to do to fix it?"

"You mean what am _I_ going to do to fix it," McKay snorted. "Unless you plan on shooting the mice."

"Oh, no." Sheppard grinned happily in that way that meant he was going to say something Rodney didn't like. "I have to go to that thing with Elizabeth. Make nice with the friendly aliens and all that."

"The Geraomens," Rodney said.

"You got it." Sheppard stepped backwards out of the 'jumper, grinning madly the whole time. "Have fun building your mousetrap!"

Rodney looked at Radek. "Mousetrap, huh?" Radek nodded. "So it would seem." He dropped his eyes downward and wrapped his arms even tighter around himself. "Rodney," he started, but was immediately cut off by Elizabeth's voice through the radio.

"Doctor McKay, Doctor Zelenka? I think you'd better get up here. Now."

No time for an awkward reunion, then. They dashed upstairs.

&gt;&gt;&gt;

It turns out that the mice had already started wreaking havoc: flooding in one of the lower levels, a bizarre explosion of multicolored light near the infirmary (which somehow cured Dr. Jameson's myopia, but they were unable to repeat the process), and a chunk of Velveeta that had been almost completely chewed through.

Radek and Rodney followed the screams and assorted blinky things to a small room they hadn't explored before. Rodney pointed his scanner at one of the walls. "They're in here somewhere."

Radek moved to the other side of the room. "Is this simply a storage room, or --?"

Suddenly, a wall sprang up between them. The lights went off just as the top of the wall hit the ceiling. Rodney cursed and smacked his hand against the wall. "Ow! Radek? Radek! Can you hear me?" The answer was, apparently, no.

Rodney immediately started going down the list. He tried thinking "open" and "lights". He tried scanning for anything unusual. Twice. He felt along the bottom, top, and sides of the wall. He tried _kicking_ the wall instead of hitting it. Okay, think, think, think. He wished Radek were here to think with him. Not that he'd ever admit it out loud, but Radek had a pretty impressive brain.

He heard a slight crinkling from floor. He immediately pointed his P-90 at the ground, using the flashlight to search for errant mice. There weren't any mice, but there was a small piece of paper crumpled at his feet. He picked it up.

_Rodney:_

There is a small opening at the bottom of the wall. I do not know why we cannot hear each other. I am thinking force field.

-R

Rodney tore a sheet out of his own notebook.

_R-_

Of course it's a force field. What do we DO???

-R

Moments later, the note came back with this:

_R-_

Do I have to think of everything? Feel along the bottom of the wall.

-R

Rodney rolled his eyes. What was this, kindergarten?

_Did that already. And tops/sides. Try calibrating your scanner to the shield frequency. After I send the note, I'll count to ten, then we both hit the wall at the middle._

He set his scanner, counted to ten, then hit the wall. "Radek?" he shouted. No luck.

A note popped out.

_No luck._

"Thanks, I figured that one out," Rodney muttered. He sat down to think. They could try shooting the wall, but the ricochet might kill them. He wished, again, that Radek was sitting next to him. Even if they couldn't get out, they could at least talk. Maybe they could even talk about what happened the night before. How long had Radek thought about kissing him? Rodney's stomach fluttered a little at the thought of Radek, quietly working in the lab, sneaking little glances at Rodney. If Rodney thought about it long enough, he supposed he done his fair share of glancing too. He hesitated, then reached for his notebook.

_Any ideas?_

~~Did you~~  ~~Are you~~  ~~Can I ask~~

_I was wondering why you came to see me last night._

He passed the note through quickly, before he changed his mind. Minutes passed. Rodney's chest tightened. He broke out in a cold sweat. What if Radek stopped writing to him? What if he stopped _talking_ to him?

Just as he was about to go into cardiac arrest, a note appeared.

_I was worried._

Rodney scribbled underneath, _Thanks._ He slipped the note under the wall.

The note came back quicker than he expected this time.

_You are angry?_

Huh? Angry? Radek must be under the mistaken impression that Rodney got kissed a lot.

_Angry? No. Surprised. Kind of numb. You should try that when I'm not stunned._

Rodney waited and waited for the next note, but he wasn't nearly as anxious. Instead those stomach-flutters were back, along with an increased need to get the hell out of this box. Radek finally pushed the paper under the wall.

All it said was, _Now I am the one who is stunned._

Rodney was trying to formulate a response to this when the room suddenly flooded with light and the wall retracted into the floor. Sheppard stood there, gun raised, until he saw that they were alone and uninjured. Rodney glanced over at Radek, who was stuffing notes in his pockets and shifting his eyes toward the floor.

"Hey, guys!" Sheppard waved. "Miss me?"

"It's about time you got here. How did you get that open?" Rodney hadn't ever been so glad to see the stupid, drab, hallways of Atlantis.

Sheppard smirked. "I pushed the button."

"There was a button," Rodney said to Radek.

"Of course," Radek muttered darkly.

"Well, then," Sheppard clapped Rodney on the back. "Ford tells me they have the mice cornered in one of the botany labs. You guys want to help take care of that?"

"I think we can handle that," Rodney answered.

The others left them alone in the hallway. "So," Rodney said.

"So," Radek peered at him over his glasses.

"I'm um, not so much stunned anymore," Rodney offered.

Radek smiled. "I can see this." He looked around and pressed a kiss, warm and slightly scratchy, to Rodney's lips.

"Excellent," Rodney babbled. "That was, uh, excellent." He grabbed Radek's arm. "Okay, listen. First, mice. And then, you know, more kissing. Is that good? That's good, right?"

Radek smiled. "Yes. That's good."


End file.
